Clamour grows in Jammu and Kashmir to bring back Indian war prisoners

With news of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attending the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, clamor grew on Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir to bring back Indian war prisoners from Pakistani jails.

Six soldiers of Jammu division had gone missing in the 1971 India-Pakistan war/ Their families have been struggling since to trace them.

"We are hopeful that Modi will address this issue. He should take up this issue with Nawaz Sharif so that we can meet our dear ones," said Harcharan Singh, son of missing Subedaar Asa Singh.

Subedaar Singh of 5 Sikh Regiment had gone missing while fighting against the Pakistani forces in the Chamb sector of Jammu region. His family feels that Singh is languishing in one of Pakistan's jails. For the last 42 years, Subedaar Singh's 75-year-old wife Nirmal Kaur has been fighting a quiet battle to bring her husband and other war heroes back home from Pakistan.

"I want to see my husband in my lifetime. I wish Modi takes up this issue with the Pakistani prime minister," said Kaur.

Sixty-two-year-old Rano Devi was five months pregnant when her husband Sepoy Jagdish Lal of 2-Mahar regiment went missing in Dhaka Theater in 1971. In the best traditions of the Indian army, Sepoy Lal had chosen the battlefield despite the pressing situation at home. More than four decades later, Sepoy Lal remains untraceable.

"The Congress-led government was not interested in solving our problem because when the incident happened Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. Now we hope Modi will carry forward the initiatives taken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and take up this issue with Nawaz Sharif," said Sepoy Lal's son-in-law, Bansi Lal.